1st smoke completed! QView!!!

[heyer5]

Alright, thanks again to everyone that has given me any sort of input.  I ran into a few issues, hopefully someone can give some input on what I should do - pictures to follow my questions!

How/Where/When do you put your wood chips on?  I was tossing them onto the coals but was getting really really white/grayish smoke.  I re-read and posted on my other thread about what to do, was given the idea to put the wood chips in foil and poke holes in it.  I did that and I think it started going better, even though I wasn't getting blue smoke, well, hardly any smoke for that matter.

Temperature control?  I'm terrible at is!  I was trying the minion method, however I most likely did it wrong.  Just curious how many coals should be lite to start?  Approximate number?  I'm assuming it varies on meat size, size of the grill, ideal smoking temp, etc.

Anyways, it turned out well!  I believe I had a little smoke ring as well, which was quite exciting.  It was mighty tasty, even though it was just for myself!  No one else was around to enjoy it.

Pics below!

Just getting the meat prepared, a couple homebrews behind it to ease my way into this adventure

 

[adiochiro3]

Looks great! I usually place my wood chunks at the edge of the coals so they smolder rather than burn. If you can SMELL smoke, you're smoking. You don't need to see it.

Temp control comes with experience and varies with each rig. Keep practicing and experimenting and you'll develop a good routine to manage your temps. I don't use the minion in the strictest sense. I just add coals about every 35-45 min. But I have a SFB, so my temps won't drop like they will in your rig when I open it to tend the fire.

 

[SmokinAl]

Congrats! I think you did a great job on your first smoke. Like James said use wood chunks instead of chips & put them next to the coals.